Editor’s note: This story was written by Emma Post, a student at Johnson State College. It first appeared in Basement Medicine, the JSC student newspaper on Dec. 4.
COTS annual candlelight vigil
With the economy in a slump and unemployment on the rise, the number of families and individuals without permanent housing nationwide has significantly increased. The U.S. Conference of Mayors reported in 2008 that on average homelessness had increased by 12 percent since 2007.
Vermont has not been immune to this trend, and Burlington is feeling the effects.
The Vermont Coalition to End Homelessness estimates there are 4,000 individuals and families each year that find themselves without shelter. According to the coalition’s Web site, on any given night there are 88 children residing in a shelter.
There is general agreement that most homeless counts understate the number of people who are homeless for many reasons.”
~Beth Krueger
COTS spokesperson
Burlington has the highest rate of homelessness in Vermont, according to the Committee On Temporary Shelter (COTS), a Burlington organization founded in 1982, which helps homeless families and individuals find shelter and food. The organization states on its Web site that at least 66 percent of Burlington households cannot afford the average fair market rent in the city.
COTS serves about 1,600 homeless persons each year, with family shelters in three locations that are open 24 hours a day for children and their guardians. The nonprofit also runs three shelters specifically for single adults, the Waystation and Eagles Nest, along with the COTS Daystation, which is open only during daytime hours.
“[The Daystation] is the only daytime drop-in center for homeless single adults in Burlington,” said Beth Krueger, a spokesperson for COTS. “The program provides an array of services including shelter from elements, the only [free] noon-time meal in Burlington, and weekly educational sessions to provide our guests with vital information about health, nutrition, and housing.”
The guests at the Daystation are linked to COTS’ Streetwork Program, which helps families and individuals connect with other services, including the welfare system and childcare resources.
Through community donations, COTS also supplies a limited number of coats, boots, hats, gloves, and other winter apparel to the homeless population.
“There is a group of shelters and community agencies that meets every month to share resources and collaborate on a winter emergency response,” Krueger said. “I don’t know exactly what the plan will be this year, but last year the state made emergency motels available to clients if the shelters were full, so that no one was turned away in the winter to sleep outside.”
According to Krueger the number of homeless is often underestimated. “There is general agreement that most homeless counts understate the number of people who are homeless for many reasons,” Krueger said. “It’s estimated that, in addition to the 3,500 homeless Vermonters counted, last year there were another 1,650 unsheltered homeless individuals in Vermont, for a total of more than 5,000 men, women and children with no home.”
A woman and child play at the COTS family shelter
Krueger notes that a combination of factors has aggravated an already serious problem in the state, including increased unemployment and a shortage of subsidized housing for low-income families.
In 2009, COTS has served 95 families including 135 parents and 171 children. “More than a third of those families had at least one employed parent,” Krueger said.
“The number of people turning to COTS for shelter skyrocketed beyond all precedent and we continued to operate at overflow status throughout last summer,” she said, noting that the organization’s resources had been severely strained the previous winter. “Once winter set in, the only option remaining for additional space was in outlying motel rooms and 208 households. Three hundred and forty-six people had to be placed in emergency motels because COTS shelters were at capacity.”
Recently the organization has been able to secure additional space in an empty building close to the downtown area that is owned by Champlain College, which agreed to loan the facility to COTS for the next two years.
The COTS Waystation. Photo by Susan Teare.
COTS is not the only shelter in Burlington. Women Helping Battered Women is a shelter dedicated to women and their families who have been victims of domestic violence. The Burlington Emergency Shelter is a Christian refuge for single adults. For the homeless youth, Spectrum is designed specifically for those under 21 years of age. The Lund Family Center is a shelter for homeless single pregnant teens.
According to the National Center on Family Homelessness as of 2009, one out of 50 children is without a home, an estimated 1.5 million children nationwide. Currently families are the fastest growing homeless population across the nation.
During a January storm in 2008 with below zero temperatures in Vermont, a community census concluded that 2,249 people searched for shelter that night, 634 of whom were under the age of 18.
